About 'Impossible'

Impossible is not a fact.

It's an opinion.

Impossible is not a declaration.

It's a dare.

Impossible is potential.

Impossible is temporary.

Impossible is nothing.

Is that why they say

"Nothing is Impossible"?

Look At All Four Seasons Of Life

This is from an email forwarded by a friend, Indika from Sri Lanka:

There was a man with four sons who wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn to look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.

The first son went during winter, the second son went during spring, the third son went during summer and the youngest son went during autumn.When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they have seen.

The first son said the tree was ugly, bent and twisted.

The second son said no, it was covered with green buds and full of promise.

The third son disagreed, he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.

The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruits, full of life and fulfilment.

The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree's life.

He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, or by only one season, and that the essence of who they are, and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up.

If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, the fulfilment of your fall.

Moral: 

Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of the rest. Don't judge life by one difficult season.



Going to Lose a Battle Partner Soon

My colleague had been hinting me that he might leave the organization. I have heard of his accounts of competitor trying to lure him away. I never thought that he was serious at first. But I guess when others keep on trying to lure you, somehow your mind will get disturbed somehow. Last week, he was moody, I'd never seen him like this. Till today, I still couldn't figure out what's the reason behind it. But he hinted me on leaving again.

Today he came into my office, and we managed to chat for some time. It seems like he is quite fixed on leaving. He was only waiting for something to struck along, which will make his resignation much easier. Something like someone stepping onto his tail, or being pissed off by seniors etc. Well, I will be feeling the same too if I were him.

He is someone who can work and had established his networks very well. But of course when you are in a comfortable position, somehow you might get laid back. But when pushed, he can definitely do his job well and sometimes could teach us a thing or two. He had been a good friend of mine at work. Both of us are HODs, so there are things which only a HOD can complain to another HOD.

It will not be professional or good for a HOD to complain about her boss in front of her subordinates right? Of course the subordinates have eyes to see. I will say this boss was the one who couldn't let people feel like staying, because no one fights for our own benefits. To give him a benefit of doubt, perhaps he did something for us, but honestly I don't think so. The only reason I am staying back is because I have my 'gui ren' in HQ. But hell know what will happen when the 'gui ren' leaves HQ in the future.

That's why I always agree when people say that life is a cycle of up and down. When you are in the UP position, never forget that you will get DOWN soon enough. Same goes to when you fell to the bottom, fear not. The light will guide you up. So, go back to the HOD thingy. I am an emotional person, up to the point where I blurt out my emotions straight-forwardly. Hence, I am easy to predict.

There was once when I got really pissed off, I couldn't find anyone to complain to, and the only person I could think of was this colleague. It was fun that he was willing to listen and at the same time, add in some humour to cool down my anger. Oh, I will miss that day so much. Of course I don't hope he leaves, but it seems inevitable, from the way he spoke to me earlier on.

He told me as a friend, and I was listening as a friend. Somehow felt like I am betraying him if I decided to tell my 'gui ren' in HQ because I knew she would be able to do something to retain this colleague. In the end, I decided not to do anything. Because Management should learn how to appreciate its staff in order to get their loyalty in return. Even if we manage to retain him this round, who can guarantee he will stay the next round, giving that we have this kind of boss in our branch?

All the best to him!

To Define Or Not To Define

Came across this in FB so would like to share it here. Yes, I am getting lazy to pen in my own thoughts due to lack of time (yeah, lame excuse I know). Because I don't like to vent out half-heartedly. Sort of like not doing my own self some justice by not penning in my thoughts properly. At least, by sharing things which had been written somewhere, I don't have to spend too much time on the post, unless I got really upset, pissed off or jubilant over something important to me.

I do not define myself by how many roadblocks have appeared in my path,

I define myself by the courage I've found to forge new roads.

I do not define myself by how many disappointments I've faced,

I define myself by the forgiveness and the faith I have found to begin again.

I do not define myself by how long a relationship lasted,

I define myself by how much I have loved, and been willing to love again.

I do not define myself by how many times I have been knocked down,

I define myself by how many times I have struggled to my feet.

I am not my pain.

I am not my past.

I am that which has emerged from the fire.

The Magic 7

What would you associate the number 7 with? James Bond 007? Convenience store 7-Eleven?

Here is an additional way how you can look at 7, in a more positive way that is....

7 colors make a R.A.I.N.B.O.W.

7 chords make a M.U.S.I.C.

7 days make a W.E.E.K.

7 continents make a W.O.R.L.D.

7 beautiful letters spell F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

What My Room Told Me

Saw this in FB and like it instantly. Can't help but to blog about it immediately! Here it goes...

When I woke up this morning, I asked myself, "What is life about?" I found the answer in my room...

Fan said > Be cool. 

    Roof said > Aim high.    

     

Window said > See the world.         

   Clock said > Every minute is previous.

Mirror said > Reflect before you act.

   Calendar said > Be up to date.

Door said > Push hard for your goals.

   Floor said > Kneel down and pray.

Awesome isn't it? The writer managed to see wonderful things out of ordinary items. Well, creativity and positive mind speaks for itself.

Palindromes

Came across a few palindromes, something which I always like. Palindromes read the same no matter where you read it from, frontward or backward. Interesting?

never odd or even

step on pets

live not on evil

rise to vote sir

p/s: This must be one of the shortest post I have wrote. I'd always wanted to be brief but the long-winded me wouldn't really allows it. Can't help.

C.H.E.R.I.S.H.

I believed most of us had read this before but I guess no harm sharing it here....

One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each other of their classmates and write it down. It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed in the papers.

That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that individual.

On Monday she gave each student his or her list. Before long,t he entire class was smiling. 'Really?' she heard whispered... 'I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!' and, 'I didn't know others liked me so much,' were most of the comments.

No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn't matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another. That group of students moved on.

Several years later, one of the students was killed in Vietnam and his teacher attended the funeral of the special student. She had never seen a servicemen in a military coffin before. He looked so handsome, so mature.

The church was packed with his friends. One by one those who loved him took a last walk by the coffin. The teacher was the last one to bless the coffin. As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to her. 'Were you Mark's math teacher?' he asked. She nodded, 'Yes.' Then he said, 'Mark talked about you a lot.'

After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates went together to a luncheon. Mark's mother and father were there, obviously waiting to speak with his teacher. 'We want to show you something' his father said,t asking a wallet out of his pocket. 'They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it.'

Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. The teacher knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which she had listed all the good things each of Mark's classmates had said about him.

'Thank you so much for doing that,' Mark's mother said. 'As you can see, Mark treasured it.'

All of Mark's former classmates started to gather around. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, 'I still have my list. It's in the top drawer of my desk at home.'

Chuck's wife said, 'Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album.'

'I have mine too,' Marilyn said, 'It's in my diary.'

Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and shower her worn and frazzled list to the group, 'I carry this with at all times,' Vicki said and without batting an eyelash, she continued: 'I think we all saved our lists.'

That's when the teacher finally sat down and cried. She cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again.

The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will end one day. And we don't know when that one day will be. So please, tell the people you love and care for, that they are special and important. Tell them, before it is too late... C.H.E.R.I.S.H. is the word of the day...

Stone With Round Edges

Recently, I encountered something which caught me off guard at work. Needless to say, it's unpleasant enough to throw me into a shocking state, so much so that I got very emotional and felt like blasting M16 into those involved. Now that several days had passed, I felt much better that it's actually a blessing in disguise. I finally got to know the truth behind those masked faces.

To be fair, I didn't hear it from the person himself, so some words or meanings might get twisted along the way. But I will do my own judgment from here onwards. My conclusion was that there can't be merely pure  innocent working relationship in any company. Politics exist, especially when seniors are still around. Most of the time, you don't even realize you are in the middle of it, being puppeted against your awareness.

You bet the emotional me felt a rush of emotional outburst. The feeling of having to coup up your outburst because you wouldn't want your colleagues to see it.... omg, it's so unbearable. It is always good to have someone to talk to about it. I just need a listener. Just listen to me babbling unreasonably, shooting out ideas which seemed too impractical to sane people. That's why it's called outburst, you see? After venting out, may all hell break loose, as long as my heart was empty of grudge and hatred.

It got onto my nerve so much that I had the actual gut to post my inner outburst on FB 15 minutes before off-work hours. And I did add my seniors in FB. Imagine that! When I checked my page few days later, I was stunned seeing the supports my friends gave me. It's true when people say true friendship persists; you don't have to meet all the time, but there will always be a space in our mind to think of them. Thank God for this.

The words of wisdom and support I got are priceless. And it so happened that those few pages in FB were actually posting posts which were describing what I felt. Some served as a reminder to me as well. I sent out emails to those with whom I always shared my inner thoughts with and I got very encouraging replies. Some shared with me their wisdom, experience and some offered solace.

One of it is definitely my favorite and really spells out the wisdom of how over the years, wisdom were built into you. Chinese has a saying which goes "old ginger is always the spiciest". Respect is earned and she has definitely earned mine. Salute to her. This is what she wrote to me:

"When I was a junior, there is only black and white in my world, later I learn about grey. There are people with high IQ in the company, but then I observe only those with high EQ survive well and have more friends. I was a stone with hard edges but over these years those edges become rounder. I think it will take the whole life to become a round stone. However, never underestimate this small stone, they will get their toes hurt if anybody were to kick it."

So beautifully written. Which reminds me that we don't have to be aggressive all the time to score our points. We can sharpen our knives in preparation for any looming attacks, but only for self-defense, not for attacking purpose. I think my description sounds very extreme but that's how I am going to put it. My own motto, only treat others the way you want others to treat you.

To be misjudged and to be slandered that way when you were actually fighting for someone else; to be left in the middle of nowhere when you know your superior is supposed to look after you... ouch, that hurts! Not that I never knew my superior is hopeless in this case. I had felt the sharp plunge of his knife in my chest during my first year at work. Perhaps I was really shocked because I had lowered down my guard.

This shall serve as a good reminder to me, to maintain constant vigilance even though you might be close to someone. I wouldn't want to end up being a cold stone towards everyone. So I vow to treat everyone warmly, upgrade my EQ and hope to try to make everyone feel comfortable in my presence. I wasn't very good in it, honestly but I know it can be done if I put my heart in it. Where there is a will, there is a way.

Thank you for all the supports and advices given. The world is still full of warmth, so I learnt!

10 Best Interview Questions To Ask

I have several people around me who were looking into changing new work environment. Some were not satisfied with current remuneration, some disliked the environment. At this present economic status, it is no secret that most companies will only be able to reward their employees at a bare minimum rate. It is a difficult time for everyone, for the staff and the boss. Usually the highest turnover rate will be after the increment or bonus payment, which means either it's end of the year, early of the year or somewhere around March or April.

I have come across an article in Yahoo citing 10 interview questions which might help you to score points with you potential boss and wish to share it here. It was written by Alison Green who writes the Ask A Manager blog, advising on career, job search and management issues. She also authored the book Managing to Change the World: The Nonprofit Leader's Guide to Getting Results. Here are the 10 great questions:

1. What are the biggest challenges the person in this position will face?

2. Can you describe a typical day or week in the position?

3. What would a successful first year in the position look like?

4. How will the success of other person in this position be measured?

5. How long did the previous person in the role hold the position? What has turnover in the role generally been like?

6. How would you describe the culture here? What type of people tend to really thrive, and what type don't do as well?

7. How would you describe your management style?

8. Thinking back to the person who you've seen do this job best, what made their performance so outstanding?

9. Are there any reservations you have about my fit for the position that I could try to address?

10. What is your time line for getting back tot he candidates about the next steps?

No matter what kind of questions you ask, in the end it still goes back to our own self to sell our self out to the interviewer. Show some interest and do some research on company background and products. Show that you are the fit for the job. To me, attitude scores more than academic credentials. Whether you are driven by salary or satisfaction / challenge a job might bring you, it all boils down to one thing, drawing salary from your prospective employer. Unless you want to be self-employed, you will need to learn to work with your boss.

Talking about interview, I haven't attended much interview myself. And I dreaded the moment if I have to go for interviews again some time in the future. But I am sure I can cook something up if there is a need be. As for now, I feel that I still have room for growth for my current work. So I will be lingering for a while longer. 4 years.... time flies just like that and yet I feel that there is so much more for me to learn about my industry. 4 years is just kindergarten level if you ask me...